4.45 lakh FIRs on 'crime against women' in 2022 in India, highest on average in Delhi: NCRB

New Delhi: A total of 4,45,256 cases of crime against women were registered across India in 2022, almost 51 FIRs every hour, up from 4,28,278 in 2021 and 3,71,503 in 2020, according to the latest NCRB data.

The rate of crime against women per lakh population stood at 66.4 while the charge sheeting in such cases was logged at 75.8, showed the data in the annual crime report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The majority of crimes against women under the Indian Penal Code were of cruelty by husband or his relatives (31.4 per cent) followed by kidnapping and abduction of women (19.2 per cent), assault on women with intent to outrage her modesty (18.7 per cent), and rape (7.1 per cent), the NCRB stated.

With 14,247 cases in 2022, Delhi registered the highest rate of crime against women in the country at 144.4 -- way above the country's average rate of 66.4.

Such cases in Delhi stood at 14,277 in 2021 and 10,093 in 2020, the official data showed.

In absolute numbers, Uttar Pradesh (65,743) registered the maximum FIRs in cases of crime against women in 2022 followed by Maharashtra (45,331), Rajasthan (45,058), West Bengal (34,738) and Madhya Pradesh (32,765), it showed.

These five states together contributed to 2,23,635 (or 50.2 per cent) of the total cases lodged in India last year, according to the NCRB, which is tasked with the collection and analysis of crime data.  In 2021 and 2020, Uttar Pradesh registered 56,083 and 49,385 cases in this category followed by Rajasthan (40,738 and 34,535), Maharashtra (39,526 and 31,954), West Bengal (35,884 and 36,439) and Madhya Pradesh (30,673 and 25,640), it showed.

A total of 12 states and Union Territories recorded crime rates higher than the national average of 66.4.

Delhi topped the list at 144.4 followed by Haryana (118.7), Telangana (117), Rajasthan (115.1), Odisha (103), Andhra Pradesh (96.2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (93.7), Kerala (82), Assam (81), Madhya Pradesh (78.8), Uttarakhand (77), Maharashtra (75.1) and West Bengal (71.8).

The rate of crime in Uttar Pradesh -- which alone contributed nearly 15 per cent of the cases in India -- stood at 58.6, according to the NCRB.

In a note of caution about the annual report, the NCRB said the primary presumption that the upward swing in police data indicates an increase in crime and thus a reflection of the ineffectiveness of the police is fallacious.

“'Rise in crime' and 'increase in registration of crime by police' are clearly two different things, a fact which requires better understanding. Thus an oft-repeated expectation from certain quarters that an effective police administration will be able to keep the crime figures low is misplaced,” it stated.

“Increase in crime numbers in a state police data may in fact be on account of certain citizen-centric police initiatives, like launching of e-FIR facility or women helpdesks," it said.

"The increase or decrease in crime numbers, however, does call for a professional investigation of underlying factors pertaining to the local communities to suitably address the pertinent issues,” it added.